Ellington Standoff Ends Peacefully

ELLINGTON — A standoff along Crane Road ended peacefully on Thursday and the man involved was being evaluated at Hartford Hospital. No one was injured in the 5 1/2-hour standoff.

The man had been holding a firearm to his chest throughout much of the ordeal, but state troopers were able to end the incident peacefully.

Police were called to 78 Crane Road shortly after 6 a.m. Thursday for a report of a man threatening suicide

State police called in their SWAT team to assist. The man had left his last will and testament and had a gun. Police had been dispatched to the house for a well-being check at the request of the man's former girlfriend, state police said.

Crane Road was closed in the area and school buses were diverted from the area.

State police said there was never a threat to the public.

Trooper Kelly Grant said the despondent man was not very communicative with troopers, but the patrol troopers who arrived first and the SWAT team negotiators who arrived later were able to begin communicating with him.

"It took a little bit of time," Grant said. "Once he realized they were truly there to help him, he did start communicating with them."

The patrol troopers were able to "maintain that dialogue with him until SWAT team members arrived," she said. "They picked it up from there."

The highly trained negotiators were then able to get him to agree to go to the hospital for an evaluation, Grant said.